Val-d’Or player suspended for slurs directed at Halifax’s Lewis

By THE CHRONICLE HERALDPublished November 20, 2012 - 5:00pm Last Updated November 21, 2012 - 5:59am

Halifax defenceman Trey Lewis was the victim of racial slurs during Sunday's game against the Val d'Or Foreurs. The league suspended the offending player, Vincent Dunn, for two games. (Staff / File)

Val-d’Or Foreurs forward Vincent Dunn has been suspended for two games for inappropriate comments he directed at Halifax Mooseheads co-captain Trey Lewis during a contest Sunday in Halifax.

Dunn was assessed a game misconduct near the end of the first period for what the official game sheet described as “racial taunts, gestures and slurs.”

Several players and coaches heard Dunn direct the offensive remarks at the Mooseheads rearguard, who is of Mi’kmaq descent.

“The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League created an anti-discrimination policy in December of 2006 in order to ban all forms of discrimination,” commissioner Gilles Courteau said in a release Tuesday announcing the suspension.

“Our policy is based on the principle of zero tolerance and it applies to all comments which are deemed inappropriate. All of our participants must be treated with respect and dignity.”

Lewis drew the Foreurs’ ire after he dropped Nicolas Aube-Kubel with a big open-ice hit halfway through the first period. He wasn’t penalized but Val-d’Or winger Brett Hester started a fight with Lewis right after the hit.

Lewis, whose mother is Mi’kmaq, said after the game that he and Dunn were exchanging words and that the incident was something that simply happened in the heat of the moment.

“I don’t think he meant to be hurtful or to be racial in any way.”

The Val-d’Or organization was also fined $500.

“Vinny has to live with the consequences of his words,” Foreurs head coach Mario Durocher said Sunday.

“That’s the rules of the league and we respect them. The Val-d’Or Foreurs will always be behind those things. We don’t want those things to happen.”

The Mooseheads hung on to win Sunday’s game 4-3 in front of 8,052 fans at the Metro Centre.